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Measuring Migration in Multi-Topic Household Surveys: A Worthwhile Opportunity

Submitted by Alan de Brauw, co-authors: Gero Carletto on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 10:28

As international migration and migrant remittances have increased in recent years, there is a clear need for improved data on international migration and migrant remittances to understand the effects that various policies can have on migrants and migrant households.  In a new paper, we argue that large, multi-purpose data collection efforts present good opportunities to study migration in a cost-effective manner.  Many countries now implement nationally representative, multi-topic household surveys à la Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) surveys, primarily for the purposes of welfare monitoring and analysis.  Although LSMS survey questionnaires are designed to study numerous aspects of household welfare and behavior, collecting detailed migration information has not been a priority for most multi-topic household surveys, resulting in large knowledge gaps on migration. Integrating migration information into these data collection efforts can be an efficient way to collect migration data. 

Migration, Remittances, and Economic Growth: The Case of the Gambia

Submitted by C. Omar Kebbeh on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 11:33

In a surprising move, the Government of the Gambia through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, in January 2012 convened the first “Consultative Meeting between the Government of the Republic of The Gambia and Gambians in the Diaspora”. According to a press release from the Office of the Gambian President, the main objective of the Consultative Meeting is to harness the potentials and talents of Gambians in the Diaspora, including those serving in International Organizations and others engaged in private ventures, which can be beneficial to the country. The release further indicated, “the meeting will facilitate the evaluation of the extent to which latent potential residing in Diaspora nationals, could be utilized to the fullest in support of Vision 2020 goals and objectives”.

A Global Partnership begins

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 10:58

Today marks an important date: The Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development  (KP) begins its inception phase today. With seed funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the KP will be a global public good, multidisciplinary, a process of synthesizing existing knowledge and creating knowledge where necessary, all with the purpose of creating a menu of policy options for policy makers (see consultation draft). The policy recommendations will be designed with careful analysis of facts and evidence. Methodologies will be closely scrutinized by peer reviewers. A 9 month inception phase will end in January 2013, and the KP will enter implementation phase in February 2013. By then, a secretariat would have been established, an Advisory Board formed, and at least 5 thematic working groups would have been identified.

Remittance data update for 2011

Submitted by Dilip Ratha, co-authors: Ani Silwal on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 18:41

Newly available data from several countries reveal that officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries reached $372 billion in 2011, an increase of 12.1 percent over 2010 (figure 1). Worldwide remittance flows, including those to high-income countries, reached $501 billion in 2011 and are expected to increase to $615 billion by 2014. Please see Migration and Development Brief 18 for global and regional data. Country-level time series data are posted here. This is higher than our earlier estimate of $351 billion.

Estimating outward remittance flows from the US: over $100 billion a year?

Submitted by Dilip Ratha, co-authors: Ani Silwal on Wed, 04/11/2012 - 09:37

The United States is perhaps the largest destination country for international migrants, and is by far the largest source country for international remittances (see our Factbook and a recent CBO report on remittances). The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that outward remittance flows from the US amounted to $51.6 billion in 2010 (see table 1). So far the BEA has published remittance data for the first three quarters of 2011. What could be the estimate for the fourth quarter 2011 and by implication the annual figure for 2011?

Declining ODA, Resilient Remittances

Submitted by C. Omar Kebbeh on Mon, 04/09/2012 - 17:46

Numbers just published by the Organization for Economic cooperation and Development (OECD) show that major donors’ aid to developing countries, known as Official Development Assistance or ODA, fell by nearly 3% to 133.5 billion in 2011 compared to 2010, the first drop since 1997 when debt relief figures are not included (see charts below).  Bilateral aid to sub-Saharan Africa was USD 28.0 billion, representing a fall of -0.9% compared to 2010.

Migration and Trade Go Hand in Hand for Africa and the US

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Wed, 03/28/2012 - 14:56

A recently introduced bipartisan legislation entitled, “The Increasing American Jobs through Greater Exports to Africa Act of 2012 “ will promote the increase of US exports to Africa. On March 22, U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-IL) jointly with U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) presented a bill to improve the competitiveness of U.S. business in Africa, including African diaspora businesses. The bill also proposes to explore ways to utilize diaspora remittances to Africa for development purposes.

Crowdfunding

Submitted by Dilip Ratha, co-authors: Ani Silwal on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 09:07

A challenge for developing countries considering issuance of bonds (including diaspora bonds) is costly and onerous SEC registration requirements in the U.S. and Europe.  The Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and Unethical Non-Disclosure Act (CROWDFUND Act) passed by the U.S. Senate on March 22 could potentially make the regulatory process simpler for some small-scale financing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing country.